News List

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chairman Todd Rokita (R-IN) have requested information about how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) responds to reports of neglect and abuse at Head Start centers. In a letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell, Kline and Rokita expressed... Read more »

THE PROBLEM: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has implemented new policies that jeopardize the privacy of workers and their families. Buried in the NLRB’s new ambush election rule – regulations designed to speed up union elections – are requirements that force employers to disclose employees’ personal information to union organizers. The Obama board’s regulatory scheme provides labor bos... Read more »

THE PROBLEM: The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ambush election rule dramatically alters long-standing policies governing union elections. The board’s rule significantly shortens the time between the filing of a petition for a union election and the election date by: Giving workers as few as 11 days to consider all the consequences of joining a union before they have to vote in the elect... Read more »

Dear Secretary Burwell, As members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, we are responsible for oversight of the Head Start Act and write today deeply concerned about the health and safety of children enrolled in the Head Start program. This concern stems from apparent discrepancies in how the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) decides when to suspend or terminate the con... Read more »

The Obama administration is once again pushing a multi-billion dollar proposal to offer ‘free’ community college to every American. In the weekly address, Vice President Biden said this was a “straightforward plan to … expand the pathway to the middle class.” Like most political gestures that offer something for nothing, this one is not all it’s cracked up to be. There is nothing ‘free’ about the ... Read more »

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce will hold hearings this week on the five year anniversary of President Obama’s health care law and various child nutrition programs in preparation for reauthorization of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act. On Tuesday, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions will hold a hearing entitled,... Read more »

The Obama administration’s temporary, conditional waiver scheme has masked the harsh reality of America’s current K-12 education landscape: No Child Left Behind remains the law of the land. In other words: Virtually all schools are considered failing under the law’s one-size-fits-all, high-stakes accountability system, known as ‘Adequate Yearly Progress,’ and are required to adopt federally prescr... Read more »

State education leaders recently gathered in Washington to send an urgent message: America’s K-12 education system is broken, and only a new law can fix it. They’re talking about the need for Congress to replaceNo Child Left Behind (NCLB) through the legislative process. That is precisely what House Republicans have been working on for years. Unfortunately, these efforts have been undercut by the ... Read more »

The Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act, introduced by Senate and House leaders last month to provide legal certainty for employers offering innovative employee wellness programs, is receiving broad support from business leaders and health care industry experts. The bill was introduced last month by Rep. John Kline (R-MN) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) with Reps. Phil Roe (R-TN) and Tim Wal... Read more »

On Tuesday, the president vetoed a bicameral resolution that would have blocked the National Labor Relation Board’s ambush election rule. By vetoing the measure, the president has signed off on a radical regulatory scheme that will: Restrict the right of employers to speak to employees during a union organizing campaign; Undermine the right of employees to make an informed decision in union electi... Read more »